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Friends organize relief missions to Bahamas
By VANESSA BAUZ, (Sun-Sentinel) Staff Writer

When John Heiser pictures the whirling eye of Hurricane Floyd parked on his beloved Bahamian island of Treasure Cay, he doesn't think of splintered homes or submerged marinas, or even the eroded bays.

Heiser thinks of John, the little 7-year-old boy who always remembers his name.

He imagines the old man who takes him out fishing and the generous friends who have opened their doors to him time and again.

They are his extended island family -- the reason Heiser, a Coral Springs firefighter and paramedic, is so eager to help. He had scheduled a vacation for the next two weeks and he hopes to spend that time in Treasure Cay rebuilding homes, clearing roads and volunteering at clinics.

Heiser is one of a network of South Floridians who mobilized on Thursday to start getting supplies to the little islands battered by Floyd. The Coast Guard Air Station in Miami flew reconnaissance missions over Eleuthera and the Abacos, and American Eagle planes began ferrying food, water and electric generators to the islands.

On Thursday afternoon, a propeller plane from Gulfstream International Airlines flew to Abaco loaded with about 3,000 pounds of water, juice, toilet paper, plastic tarps and shovels. Felix Sawyer, a Bahamian businessman who lives part of the year in Palm Beach County, organized his own relief mission by calling JFK Medical Center near West Palm Beach on Wednesday night to ask for medical supplies.

Hospital spokeswoman Sharon Reuben said the hospital donated syringes and bandages, as well as an emergency room doctor and nurse.

Missionary Flights International, based in West Palm Beach, will fly 1,000 loaves of bread and 400 gallons of water to Marsh Harbour and Eleuthera this morning.

Rick Graef, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, runs a Web site about the Abacos (go-abacos.com). He said he has received about 20 e-mail messages an hour from people as far away as California who wanted to help.

"I think of people like the guy who runs a conch stand in Marsh Harbour," Graef said. "He's not going to call the insurance company or sit around and say 'Woe is me.' He's going to have to pull himself up by his bootstraps."

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